Final Fantasy
by Mii-Chan 24
Summary: FLAME TAW'S CHALLENGE! You've all heard of Max Ride. Heck, you've even heard of us! You don't know it, of course, but you know. Wanna hear our story?
1. Chapter 1

**Final Fantasy**

**By Amaya 24**

**A/N: Alrighty, challenge! This is the first time I've done a challenge before, so bear with me if it sucks, okay? This is for Flame-Taw's challenge, got it? Good.**

**Disclaimer: Me no owney. I only own additional mutant people thingies... o.o;;;**

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_Something's wrong._ That's the first thing that hit me. Usually my dreams, no matter how bad they were, were pretty harmless. Memories of the Institute, the experiments. But this-- this wasn't even a dream. Not any that I'd had, anyways.

I was flying. Well, that isn't really different-- do that at least once a day. The strange thing is, everything around me was white. Not like, inside-a-cloud white, but just pure white all around. And I wasn't moving. I was up in the air, with nothing underneath me, but I wasn't moving. Just floating there.

But that wasn't the weirdest part. Nothing _major_ was going on; no whitecoats, no erasers, nothing. But I felt totally on edge, adrenaline rushing through my body. Like I was gearing up for a fight.

And I was scared, too. Terrified, mind-numbing scared-out-of-my-wits.

_Come on, Cloud. You can figure this out._ I told myself, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. But no matter how hard I tried, the only thing that I could see was white. All over.

Slowly, I began noticing a buzzing, droning noise that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. What the heck is that?!

I scrunched up my eyes, gritting my teeth. The noise was seriously getting on my nerves, making a shiver run up my spine. _What is it?_

Suddenly, I felt myself fall from the branch I was lying on, falling with a loud _thump_ on the ground, erasing all thoughts (and sounds) from my head. My left wing was crushed underneath me, so I sat up quickly, checking to make sure I didn't mess myself up too bad.

Someone chuckled behind me, and I swiveled around, feeling confused.

"Geez, Cloud. Can't even stay on a tree," Aer grinned, her green eyes shining brightly. She held out a hand, trying helping me up. I glared at her, standing up on my own, but then she just dusted me off. Of course, as the oldest, it figures she'd try to be the mother. I brushed her away, stretching out my wings and shaking them off, wincing at the pain.

"What happened?" Aer asked, a worried look crossing her face. She knew something was bothering me; I wasn't usually so uptight after a nap. But _I _didn't even know what was going on. All I could do was shrug and shake my head but that only made her frown.

I closed my eyes, leaning against the trunk of the tree I fell out of. I was still pretty uneasy, but even that was starting to fade away. I was hoping Aer would drop it, but I was proved wrong.

"Come on, Cloud. Don't do this to us. Remember the last time?" She asked quietly, making me flinch. Of course I remembered what had happened the last time I had a bad feeling; the stupid erasers from the Institute almost caught us, and even then, we barely got away. I nodded, brushing my bangs out of my face.

I picked up a stick that had fallen off the tree when I fell off and began drawing on the mud. If there's one thing I hate about the whitecoats more than the fact that they took us from our homes and turned us into freaks, is that thanks to them, whenever something bad's gonna happen, I can't tell my friends because I can't _talk._ They said that they'd created an experiment that could shatter steel with its voice; seeing how that could be useful to them, they tried to do it again. Of course, they had no idea what they were doing the first time, so when all their tests and improvements were done, well-- here I am.

"Hey Aer. Hey Cloud. What's going on?" A quiet voice asked. I looked up quickly and saw Tif behind us, her tail up high. Aer smiled at her, straightening up from where she was trying to see what I was writing.

"Hey Tif. Where's everybody?" She asked, looking around. Tif sighed, sounding bored.

"Kad and Seph are asleep and Reno and Fi are playing I-Spy." She reported, rubbing up against me so that I could pet her. Hey, she may be a talking cat with feelings and stuff, but she was still a cat. Aer nodded, making her long brown bangs fall in her face. Blowing them away, frustrated, she bent down again, reading over what I'd written in the mud.

_Something's wrong, Aer. I don't know what, but something's gonna happen soon._

She frowned. "Erasers?" I shook my head. Tif cocked her head to the side.

"Well, whatever it is, we can worry about it later. I'm hungry." She chirped, walking back the way she came from. Aerith sighed, looking worried, but helped me up.

"Let's go."

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A/N: I'm dead. Seriously, I'm totally out of it. I don't know what this is yet, but like I said "FLAME-TAW'S CHALLENGE!" Gimmie your opinion on it, and I'll see if I can fix it. Reviews and flames are welcome!

Oh, and Flame-Taw? Your input on this would be nice. Whatever. Laters...


	2. Chapter 2

**Final Fantasy II**

**By Amaya 24**

**A/N: I got a review that made me feel very special... :) I'mma keep writing, ya?**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride belongs to James Patterson. I am neither a guy nor named James Patterson, therefore I don't own.**

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**_You've all heard of Max Ride. Heck, you've even heard of us! You don't know it, of course, but you know. The kids from the Institute that Max and the rest of the Flock rescued? That's us. A ragtag group of twerps with nowhere to go and nothing to lose._

"C'mon, Cloud." Aer sighed, running a hand through her light brown hair. I nodded, following behind her, my gut twisting nervously.

_At first there was twelve of us: twelve out of the thirty kids in the cages in the Institute. Only twelve made it out after Max and the rest of her Flock released us. But as the months went by, our numbers kept shrinking. Now there's only seven of us left-- three girls, four guys._

"So. Tifa." Aer asked in a professional tone of voice. Tifa looked up, her green eyes wide, trotting along side us. As the only one of the group that actually had the body of an animal, it annoyed her to no end to have to look up to someone, but hey. What can we do? Aerith never faltered, pulling out her light brown wings and shutting them closed, tightly, behind her. As we walked, she pulled a tattered reddish-pink windbreaker from her backpack and slipped it on. With it, you couldn't tell she had wings at all!

_First, there's Aerith. The leader of our group. She looks ten, but she's actually thirteen; something the whitecoats had been brewing. Apparently, not only were they trying to mix different animals together, they were also trying to create a synthetic 'fountain of youth'. So Aerith looks like a ten-year-old girl when she's really thirteen. Pisses her off a lot, actually. _

"Cloud thinks we might be in danger." She made it sound like I was right, so positive, even though I had no idea if we _were_ in danger or not. Tifa nodded, her eyes straying towards me for a second.

_Then, if we go by age, is Tifa. The cat. She used to be a normal cat, until a human's genes were mixed with her DNA and she was put under radiation. The end result? A cat with human eyes, retractable fingers, and a voice box. Ginger and pretty big (because of the human genes), Tifa is our pillow/security blanket. She takes care of us whenever Aerith is busy, and she's good at what she does._

"We're leaving as soon as possible. Get Kadaj and Sephiroth to help you gather our supplies; Yuffie, Cloud, Reno, and I will go out to the city and get some more food." Tifa nodded, breaking into a run.

As soon as Tifa was out of earshot, Aerith sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Ugh. Such a pain," She murmured, her eyes far away.

_Next in line would be me: Cloud. Oldest guy, and completely worthless. Aerith and I were the only two avian-hybrids in the Institute when the other bird kids bailed us out. I _was_ supposed to be able to shatter steel with my voice, but, hey. Even whitecoats make mistakes. This one just cost me my voice box. Oops. Now, whenever something doesn't sit right with me, I don't have a chance to warn my friends. Aerith says that I'm not useless, but I wouldn't be too sure. I'm her second-in-command. Something happens to her, I'm supposed to take the rest of us somewhere safe._

I gave her a thin smile, pulling on her arm to get her going again. We were currently staying in a little park-thingy. It wasn't bad; could have been worse. She grinned at me, slipping her backpack back on.

"Come on. You know how Fi gets when we take too long." She sighed. I nodded, pulling my own windbreaker out and slipping it on.

_Then there's the twins: Kadaj and Sephiroth. Ten years old and a handful if left to their own devices. With silvery-white hair and light blue eyes, these two scare the crap out of normal people... _

"Hey, Cloud?" Aer asked, looking at me curiously. I looked up, snapped out of my thoughts. She grinned at me slightly and sighed, walking slowly.

"Do you remember Bill and Mandy?" I blinked at her, nodding slowly. She fake-glared at me, then looked up, smiling happily. It's times like these that I wished I _could_ talk; it'd be impossible to make us forget the people who took us in after we left the Institute!

_Finally, out of the whole group, there's the youngest twerps; Yuffie, at seven, and Reno at five. They're supposed to be related somehow, but you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at them. Yuffie's hyper, crazy, and possibly has ADHD. Reno's quiet, shy, and the sweetest five year old ever. That's not everything, though. Yuffie has definite Asian blood in her; Reno looks... well... like a little redhead white kid. (Not trying to sound racist or anything; that's the only way I can describe him.) But the whitecoats said they were related, so..._

"Anyways," Aer continued, a little annoyed, obviously noticing I was spacing off again. I shrugged at her. So sue me, I have a short attention span! "I was wondering; maybe, after this, I mean... maybe we can go back to see them?" I shrugged again, nodding half-heatedly.

"Well, I mean, living here is great, but it'd be kind of nice to sleep in real beds again..." She said, closing her eyes, and putting her hands behind her head. I nodded.

_Who are Bill and Mandy, you ask? Well, you can't actually expect a bunch of kids who've never had any experience outside of a godforsaken lab to survive more than a minute out in the streets of New York City on their own, can you? After a good two hours of wandering Central Park with Aer and the other experiments, we were getting ready to give ourselves up to the Erasers. Before we could do that, a couple spotted us; both me and Aer had our wings out (we thought no one could see us), and Kad and Seph had Eraser ears on their heads (a flaw the whitecoats couldn't fix no matter how hard they tried). Instead of screaming or running away, or turning us in, they actually offered to take us in. Aer tried to refuse, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. For the first five months of our freedom, we spent our days living in their little barn in the outskirts of New York. It wasn't until last month that we had to leave them..._

"Cloud!" Aer snapped. I looked at her, shrugging. Aer glared at me then rolled her eyes. "Hopeless..." She muttered, stalking away from me.

----------------------------------------------------

"Come on guys, don't fall behind," Aer called wearily. Reno and Yuffie looked up from the toy display at the supermarket and trotted over towards us, each holding a bag of food. Reno almost fell from the weight of his bag, but when I offered to take his bag he shook his head.

"I can do it, Cwoud." He whispered, keeping up with me while Yuffie ran ahead with Aerith, bouncing up and down on her heels.

Aer slowed down to let us catch up, smiling at me.

"Hey, Cloud?" She murmured, looking around us slyly. I looked at her. "Is there someone following us, or is it just me?"

As casually as I could, I glanced around. A few feet away, a modelly-looking guy looked away from us.

I nodded at Aer. She groaned, but called for Fi. The black-haired girl ran back, looking confused.

"Something wrong?" She asked, hefting her bag of food up on her arms again. Aer gave her a small nod.

"Put our things in your backpacks, quick. Cloud, you take Reno; I'll take Fi." She whispered, opening up her own backpack and sticking the food in. I nodded, and helped Reno take off his backpack. See, despite enjoying making other peoples lives miserable, the whitecoats had extras in the Institute; humans with no additional DNA mixed into them as backups incase they needed to do more tests. That's why they had Reno and Yuffie: young kids, still young enough for their DNA to be 'malleable' enough for them to mess with it.

Aer straightened up, picked up her backpack, handed Yuffie hers, and gave me a quick smile. "Back at the park. If one of us isn't there yet, get Tif, Kad and Seph and get away. We'll meet up in the abandoned warehouse we found last time, okay?" I nodded, taking Reno's hand and pulling him away, crossing the street while Aer and Fi walked away, turning left into an alley. The model guy looked at the both of us, then pulled out a walkie-talkie. For some reason, this guy didn't look like the Erasers we knew. He gave me the creeps. I shrugged the thoughts away and pulled Reno along.

"Cwoud?" He asked, his eyes wide. I looked at him. "Awe we gonna be okay?" I blinked at him. Honestly, I wasn't sure, but I nodded anyways. "Awe we gonna haf ta fight?" He asked. I shrugged at him. _Hope not_.

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A/N: There you have it, folks! Chapter 2. So so soo sorry it took me so long to update, but I've been busy and I'm sick as a dog right now, so... yeah. Review please and thank you:) 


	3. Chapter 3

**Final Fantasy III**

**By Amaya 24**

**A/N: Not getting much input on this story, but I don't mind. I kinda like writing this. So here's part three in case anyone's really reading this.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own… anything, really. Max Ride isn't mine, and neither are the names. I got those off of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.**

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"Cwoud? I can't see 'Daj and Sephi anywhere." Reno whimpered. I nodded, feeling anxious. We'd been flying over the area for some time now, and we still hadn't seen the guys or Aer and Fi.

I settled for landing (after all, it's pretty hard carrying a kid on your back) near our camp, hoping that the guys had just hidden somewhere.

I landed softly near some bushes, and felt Reno slip off my back. "Sephi? 'Daj? Tifa? Whewe awe you guys?" He hissed, looking around the deserted camp while I made sure we hadn't been followed by any Erasers. The coast _looked_ clear, but I'd learned the hard way to never trust things like that.

I glanced around, poking around the bushes that closed our hideout from the rest of the world. Then reeled back, covering my mouth with my hand. _Ho sh--_

"Cwoud?" I spun around, blocking the sight from Reno's gaze. I blinked at him questioningly. "I can't find them anywhere..." Reno murmured worriedly, his red hair making his face look exceptionally pale. I nodded, hugging the little boy close, blinking away the horrible images that had engraved themselves into my mind.

_Dammit Tifa..._ I thought, feeling panic seep into my system. We have to get away. You'd think, after all we've seen, death wouldn't affect us much. Boy is that a lie.

I slowly dragged Reno away, blinking back tears as we left Tifa's body behind; torn up and bloody, she looked like a dog had gotten to her. _Or an Eraser_, I thought darkly, straining to hear anything suspicious.

I motioned for Reno to get on my back again -- if Tifa was like that, I didn't want to think what they guys were going to be like. Reno looked at me, surprised.

"But Cwoud, we haven't fownd Tifa and 'Daj and Sephi yet," He protested, looking nervous. I nodded, motioning up anyways. _Come on, Reno. Don't fight back now... We have to get out of here..._

A rustling caught my attention, and I swiveled around, standing in front of Reno protectively. Reno whimpered.

"Was goin on, Cwoud?" He asked fearfully, clutching the hem of my jacket. I shook my head, my eyes boring into the bushes.

A few seconds later, Aerith's head popped out, thankfully followed by the rest of her body.

"Cloud, Reno," She sighed in relief, looking pale. "I'm so glad you're okay!" I nodded, still keeping Reno out of reach.

"You saw, didn't you?" Aer continued, her eyes pleading, almost overflowing with tears. I nodded, feeling my throat close up. She nodded and turned behind her.

"Come on out, Fi. Let's go." She muttered gently, pulling a tearful Yuffie away from the bushes.

"Cloud!" She wailed, throwing herself at me. I stumbled slightly and patted her back, feeling overwhelmed. I felt sick, but I couldn't let them give up.

"We have to get out of here," Aer pointed out, scanning the area. I nodded, irritated that that was the only thing I was capable of. I cursed the whitecoats in my mind, wishing I could... you know. Talk. It would help some, I figure.

"You will not escape," A robotic voice suddenly called, and the four of us jumped into a fighting position, standing back to back.

"Who's there?" Aer snapped, tensed to open her wings the minute trouble started.

"You will not escape," The voice repeated, and five Erasers stepped out of the shadows. I noticed apprehensively that two of them had blood caking their claws and hoped that Reno hadn't noticed.

"Something's wrong," Aer hissed next to me, motioning at Fi to climb on her back. I nodded and crouched down to give Reno an easier time getting up. Those Erasers were giving me the creeps.

The things began stalking forward, their movements jerky, like robots. But robots aren't this smart, are they? One of them raised a hand, reaching for Yuffie. She flinched and I panicked, waiting for Aer's signal.

"Now!" As soon as the words left Aer's lips, we shot up into the air, Reno and Yuffie holding on for their lives. We powered out of there, flying out of there as fast as our wings could carry us.

"They're comin' after us!" Fi reported, clinging tightly to Aer as we swiveled around in mid-air.

"Crap," Aerith whispered as the Eraser things shot up at the same time. I grimaced, feeling incredibly uneasy. Something bad was going to happen, and I couldn't do squat to help my friends.

"Creepy," Reno muttered in my ear, his red hair flying everywhere. I nodded, keeping a wary eye on the Erasers.

"You cannot win," The things said at the same time, and shot up, keeping level with us. Their red eyes bored into us, and I flinched, turning around to bolt. The minute I did, everything went black.

--

"Cloud? Cloud, please wake up," I slowly tried to shake off the drug-induced sleep, groaning loudly.

"Oh, thank goodness," A voice sighed, and I felt myself being crushed into a hug. I blinked away the fuzziness of the scene and focused in on Aer, Reno, and Fi. They were all crowded around me, their eyes worried. We were in the back of a semi truck, two of those weird Eraser things standing away from us, their eyes closed. I made a face at the still things. They really _were_ like robots.

Aerith hugged me again, crushing my wings behind me. I shifted slightly, still feeling disoriented. She hugged me tighter, and I could tell she was almost ready to blow.

"Awith," Reno said in his little 4-year-old accent. "I think you'we huwting him."

"Yeah. Hurting him," Yuffie echoed, her face blank. Poor kid probably saw what happened to Sephiroth and Kadaj. Thinking about that brought everything else that happened in a rush, and I jumped up, feeling dizzy.

"Calm down, Cloud," Aer murmured soothingly, patting my shoulder, her face pale. I looked into her green eyes, my heart constricting painfully. So many things I needed to say, and I couldn't!

"Aewith? Where're Sephi and 'Daj?" Reno asked innocently, his eyes wide. I almost puked at the thought. Aer was a little more composed than I was, thankfully, but I still saw her shudder a bit.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," She murmured, gathering the little boy into her arms, brushing his bangs out of his face. "They're gone now..."

"When are we gonna see them again?" He stubbornly continued, his face earnest. Yuffie shuddered, tears streaking down her face. I hesitated, torn between helping her out and helping Reno, who was staring at Aerith, confused.

"When are we going to see them?" Yuffie asked, indignation written all over her face. "Never! We're never seeing them again 'cause they're all dead!" She spat, her eyes glaring at us furiously. I looked at Aerith; it's not like it was our fault!

"Yuffie, sweetie..." Aer mumbled, reaching towards the younger girl while shifting Reno slightly. Yuffie jerked away, her face red.

"No! If they'd been with us, they wouldn't have--"

Before she could finish, one of the Eraser things came towards us, its eyes flashing red. Okay. More proof that they weren't normal, perhaps? It stalked menacingly towards Yuffie, but I lurched up, standing in front of her. If I couldn't warn them, at least I could help keep them safe.

The thing didn't stop; it nailed me in the gut so hard, I think it popped an air sack. Aerith hissed angrily but didn't do anything, gathering Yuffie in her arms as I fell to the floor, the air _whooshing_ out of me.

I struggled to suck in a breath, wheezing heavily, my knees banging against the hard metal bottom of the semi. Aer patted my back, glaring at the Eraser-thing. I was now utterly convinced that that _thing_ wasn't human; when it socked me, it felt like I'd been socked by a wrecking ball.

I coughed, Aerith rubbing my back. The Eraser-robot thing stared down at me, looking as if it wanted to use me for a punching bag again. It moved forward slightly, and Aerith stood up, blocking the thing's way.

"Leave us alone!" She yelled as Reno patted my head. The thing focused on her, its beady eyes cold. I coughed again, glaring at the thing, getting on one knee and wincing at the pain.

"Cloud..." Aer whispered nervously, grabbing my arm as I tried to get up again. I ignored her and turned to face the Eraser-robot.

I stood in front of them all, fighting the bile threatening to come up. The thing glanced at me coolly and walked back to its buddy, powering down.

I sighed in relief before coughing hard, covering my mouth with my hands. After the coughing fit passed, I pulled them away, feeling sick. My hands were slick with blood. _My_ blood.

"Oh, no." Aer breathed, glancing at me worriedly. I shook my head, my insides writhing painfully. Inside, I was panicking; I didn't want to die! Instead of freaking out, I shuddered, using Aerith's shoulder to try and stand up straight.

My insides burned, but I managed to stay upright, silently daring the Eraser thingies to come after my friends again.

"Cloud, don't. Please," Aer murmured, pulling at my jacket to get me to sit down. I shook my head stubbornly, wiping the blood off on my jeans. I coughed again, and my pale blond bangs fell in my face. I irritably blew them away, sucking in a breath when my side flared up.

Aerith sighed tiredly, brushing my bangs away. "Hopeless," She muttered, looking shell-shocked. I smiled at her slightly and hugged her, making sure not to jostle my side anymore. She stiffened a bit, but gently returned the hug.

"Thanks," She whispered, then grinned when Reno hugged her legs. Yuffie glanced at me, looking scared.

"I'm sorry, Cloud," She sniffled, hugging my uninjured side. I nodded, smiling to show I wasn't angry. Just then, the semi slowed to a stop, making all of us stumble. I held my side, biting my tongue at the searing pain.

Yuffie glanced at me again and slipped her hand into mine, scooting close. On my other side, Aer grabbed Reno's hand and held my wrist, squinting as light suddenly spilled onto us. I managed to suck in a decent breath, and steeled myself to face whatever it was we were up against.

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**I'm done. Well, not really, but without the Q and A, I feel lonely. So now I'm trying to get this through. I really like this story, and I want to finish it, it's just a struggle to make it through.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Final Fantasy IV**

**By Amaya 24**

**Hey guys! New chapter: um, someone sent in a review saying that they'd like more descriptions on things... well, hopefully I came through here. **

**Quick note: this takes place during book 3, a little before the Flock breaks up.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own. Anything. At all...**

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As blinding white sunlight filtered into the semi, I felt myself being pushed out of the truck, my side flaring up in pain. I heard Aerith stumble beside me, but one of those Eraser-bot things blocked her from my view.

"Walk," It growled in a metallic voice, giving us no choice but to obey. As my eyes started getting used to the light, I stared around, hoping to find out where we were, exactly.

It was like a prison; high, barbed wire fences (no doubt electrified) lined the area, and I could hear a loud thrumming noise coming from above us. I craned my head back and could barely see thin silver wires criss-crossing overhead.

"A net?" Aer whispered, following my gaze. I nodded, wrinkling my nose. Annoyed, I turned back to look at the rest of the joint. Ahead of us stood a bulky gray building, glaring at us menacingly. The place was surrounded by sentries, Erasers and humans both, carrying guns and all sorts of dangerous weapons. Reno shuffled towards me, fear obvious in his eyes. I patted his head, wishing I could do something to reassure him.

I glanced around instead, wondering if maybe we had overlooked an escape route, when something jabbed hard into my back. I bit the inside of my cheek as the Eraser thing jabbed the butt of its gun into my ribs. My messed up ones, in fact.

"Leave him alone!" Aer cried. I shook angrily when the Eraser thing went after her too. She fell with a dry thump on the ground beside me, her cheek swelling rapidly.

"And who might this be?" A female voice called. I looked up, confused, as a blond woman strode over to us, a man in a white lab coat a few steps behind. The man looked at us sadly but turned to the lady.

"These are the experiments that escaped from the Institute a few months back," He said, glancing at us before turning away. I glared at him, my blood boiling at the unfairness of it all. The blond woman ignored us, talking to the whitecoat.

"Ah, yes. The specimens released by your flying failures," She said snootily, and I saw the man's eyes harden slightly.

"Yes, Max and the others let them go." He sighed, a thin sort of longing obvious in his voice. Aer and I exchanged a look at Max's name.

"Of course." She answered crisply, her blue eyes glancing at us coldly before walking away. "Take care of them," She walked away without ado, leaving us a little dumbfounded. The hell?!

The man nodded at her, before turning to our Eraser/robot wardens. "Take them to observation room number five," He told them, giving us another pitying look before walking away, after the blond woman.

Again, we were roughly man-handled towards the dumpy building, the sentries standing guard glaring at us hatefully. Their looks _radiated_ disgust at what we were. Freaks. Anomalies. Mutants. Mistakes.

I shook my head angrily, blinking as we passed from natural sunlight to harsh, fluorescent lighting. The air had a sterile smell to it; alcohol and all sorts of other chemicals floated around us. I wrinkled my nose, the sharp smell making me dizzy. I turned to look at Aer, who was looking a little green around the gills.

I tried hard to memorize the way, but the twists and turns got to be too much. I gave up, blinking wearily as we paraded past tons of other labs and rooms with large windows set into them. I saw boxes with body tissues floating in them hooked to computers while whitecoats recorded the results; cages full of other experiments, some like us; and Erasers hooked up to machines.

"Robots..." Aer breathed next to me, glancing fearfully at our own Eraser capturers. I gave her a slight nod before turning back to the experiments. It was like a train wreck; you just couldn't look away.

After what seemed like forever, the Eraser-bots finally dragged us to a halt in front of a white door. Shoving the door open roughly, they threw us in, making sure to lock the door behind them.

I winced as my ribs flared up yet again, and I slowly pulled myself up. I let out a small breath and helped Aerith up. Her usually pale face was slowly turning purple from the punch that Eraser-bot had thrown at her. I touched the bruise lightly, flinching as she sucked in a quick breath. I gave her an apologetic look, brushing the welt.

"Don't give me that look, Cloud," She sighed, pulling my hand away tiredly. I rolled my eyes at her and turned to the younger kids who seemed too shell-shocked to say anything.

"Reno? Yuffie?" Aer called tenderly, opening her arms so that the kids could hug her. Reno sniffled, looking worriedly at Aer's bruise, then at my side.

"I'm scared," He wailed, throwing himself against Aer. Yuffie nodded, tears making little trails down her cheeks. She also hugged Aer, who seemed close to toppling over. I smiled at her before looking around our room.

It was strange; three of the four walls were reflective, like mirrors. The only wall that wasn't like that was the one where the door was situated in. That wall was off-white. I glared at the mirror-walls, positive at least one was a two-way mirror. There wasn't anything besides that; for an observation room, this was pretty... non painful. For us, at least. For now.

"Cloud." I looked up at my name and saw Aer motioning over. The three had shuffled over towards a corner of the room, huddling together with Aer's wings spread over them. I smiled and shuffled over towards them, my side pulling as I sat down.

I spaced off, vaguely listening as Aer murmured comforting words at the kids. The room was lit up enough so that we could see our reflections pretty well.

I stared, blinking curiously as I regarded my reflection. I hadn't really seen myself in a while; my pale-blond hair was longer than I liked it, but it wasn't _too_ long. My bangs flopped into my eyes, and I brushed them away irritably. I looked incredibly pale, weird considering we usually flew close to the sun. I shrugged, not too worried.

My gaze moved over to my black clothes. I thought it looked a little strange-- my pale skin stood out a lot against the black shirt, windbreaker and dark jeans-- but Aer always said she thought it looked good. I flushed a bit as I thought about that, then I turned to Aerith.

Like I said before, Aer looked like a ten-year old despite the fact that she was older: almost 14, if I remembered right. Her light brown hair was long, almost down to her back, with a light red ribbon (not pink, as she always reminded me) holding it back. Her green eyes were always bright, always trying to strive forward no matter how bad things got. Her clothes were dirty and rumpled, but you could still see the brightness of her red shirt. I was pretty sure her pants were supposed to be white, or khaki. Now they were just kind of... dirt colored.

She caught me staring at her and shot me a questioning look, but I just shook my head, smiling to myself. I glared at the bruise that marred her face and forced myself to look away, glancing instead at Reno and Yuffie, who'd fallen asleep on Aer's lap.

Reno's hair was long, since we hadn't had a chance to cut it. (His hair had already been long before, so our retreat from the material world hadn't helped at all.) The bright redness of it all brought out his pale face a lot. He was wearing dark colors too, with a gray T-shirt hidden under a black hoodie. Aer once told me that he was trying to be like me.

Yuffie's hair was just as long as her brother's, except hers was black. She had a long scar down her cheek from an old whitecoat experiment gone wrong (something to do with altering a person's biochemistry. Needless to say, Yuffie didn't want to go down without a fight-- the scar's the only thing that's left from that little scuffle.) She had on an olive-green tank top and khaki shorts, a white ribbon holding her bangs away from her face.

I heard Aerith sigh beside me and I looked up, surprised. She smiled tiredly at me, brushing Reno's hair away from his eyes.

"Wonder what they're going to do with us now," She whispered, looking around sadly. I nodded, feeling gloomy. I started as Aer put out her left hand, palm up. It was an old trick we'd done before; since I couldn't talk, I would spell things out on the palm of her hand. Like Helen Keller, or something.

_I'm sorry_, I slowly spelled out. Aerith glared at me sternly, her palm shaking slightly.

"What for?" She demanded quietly. I fidgeted in my spot and held her outstretched hand in mine as I slowly traced the letters.

_My fault we got caught._ Aer frowned, shaking her head.

"It's not true; if I hadn't split us up, nothing would have happened," She claimed, a small tear running down her cheek. I pulled my hand away and brushed it away, making her smile at me shakily.

_My bad feeling_, I 'told' her, piecing some parts of the dream together. The droning buzzing noise was the same as the one that surrounded the Eraser-bots. The rest was still a mystery. Aer shook her head again.

"You protected us from that Eraser robot thing," She whispered, still looking a little tearful. "And you got hurt because of us." She gently laid her hand on my injured side, and I tried hard not to wince.

_I had to._ She sighed at my response, holding my hand tightly. Moving slowly so that she wouldn't bother the kids, she used my shoulder as a pillow, hugging my arm. I tried to hold back my blush, but it was a bit obvious in the harsh light.

She chuckled, playing with the frayed edge of my jacket sleeve.

"I'm scared, Cloud," She admitted, starting as Reno shifted slightly. I nodded, wishing I could do something to make her feel better. I felt so damn useless!

We stayed like that for a while, trying to keep from going crazy from the antiseptic smell. Aer was starting to fall asleep against my shoulder when the doorknob started to shake. Immediately Aer's eyes snapped open, shooting upright. Shocked out of their sleep, Yuffie and Reno tumbled off Aer's lap, looking confused.

"Wha's goin' on?" Yuffie yawned, trying desperately to wake up. Reno blinked, grabbing my wrist nervously.

"Stay on your guard," Aer cautioned, glaring at the door as it swung open slowly. A tall man walked in, wearing a white lab coat. Behind him followed the blond woman and other man we'd seen before. Another whitecoat followed behind them all, holding a clipboard. Finishing the sick parade were two other Eraser bots who regarded us calmly.

"Dese vould be de experiments from de New York branch?" The tall man asked, ignoring us. I grimaced at him, standing in front of Aer, Yuffie, and Reno again. The blond lady nodded curtly, looking at us disinterestedly.

"Experiments 31115214, 15190208, 25216695, and 1851315, respectively," The blond woman said, pointing at me, Aer, Yuffie and Reno. Reno glared at her, cutting off the circulation to my arm.

"We have names, you know," Aer spat at them, pulling herself to her full height. The adults continued as if she hadn't spoken.

"Vat about de ozzers?" The tall man asked, giving us a superior look. I glared at him, tensing, ready to bring him down. The blond woman consulted her notes.

"The three others would not cooperate; they were promptly exterminated as a result," She said stoically. With a shudder I realized they were talking about Kadaj, Sephiroth and Tifa. I felt Aer shudder next to me, and I gripped Reno's arm tighter.

"What are you going to do to us?" Aer snapped again, her breathing hard. The tall man regarded us coolly, a condescending look on his face.

"Nozing you should be vorried about," He assured us, a chilly sneer on his face. I felt my back tensing up and unfurled my wings a bit, trying to make myself a little bigger. The whitecoats sneered and turned around, walking out the room.

"Take the younger two to examination room 17," The blond woman told the Eraser-bots, almost as an afterthought. The Eraser-bots nodded and stalked forward threateningly.

Aer snarled and set herself in front of Yuffie, shielding her with her body. I snapped my wings out to give me an advantage over the Erasers, but one of them pinned them down behind me before tackling me to the floor.

I struggled silently for a few seconds before managing to get one of my wings under me. I pulled it in suddenly, the spread it out, slamming my boots into the chest of one of the Eraser-bots. Aer pulled Reno and Yuffie out of the way of our scuffle. Both Eraser things were busy dealing with me, meaning, if we were lucky, Aer could sneak the kids out.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Aer dash towards the door, attacking the doorknob furiously. The thing wouldn't move, but she reared back, hell-bent on kicking the door open. I felt the wind leave me as one of the Erasers nailed me in the stomach, narrowly missing my ribs. _Please, God. If you exist, let the others get out alive._

God hates us, apparently. One of the Eraser-bots I was wrestling with noticed Aer's desperate attempts to open the door. With a creak, it shot up, streaking towards her. I tried to get up, but the other Eraser held me down, setting its metal knee into my back. I could do _nothing_ as the Eraser reached Aer and threw her into one of the mirror-walls. I winced as she hit the wall and slumped down, thoroughly knocked out.

I have to hand it to the younger kids; they hardly let out a whimper as the Eraser that'd messed with Aer grabbed them both by the scruff of the neck, hauling them out of the room. As soon as the first Eraser left with the kids, the other Eraser -- the one on my back-- let go, kicked my side and left the room, locking the door behind it.

I gasped on the floor for a few seconds before pushing myself up and crawling towards Aer. I touched the side of her neck to check for a pulse, and let out a slow breath in relief. After that, I gently tapped the side of her face, trying to get her to wake up.

_Please... please wake up_, I silently willed, tears prickling my eyes. I sniffled slightly and drew my sleeve across my eyes, shaking my head. I grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly, wishing I could call out to her.

"... Cloud?" She muttered weakly, her eyes fluttering as they opened. I breathed out, relieved, feeling my spine creak as I slumped back down.

Immediately, her eyes shot open and she sat up, looking around the room frantically. "Reno? Yuffie?" I shook my head regretfully, feeling my heart clench painfully at her expression. I shuffled next to her, holding her into my arms. She tensed uncomfortably for a second before collapsing, tears running down her cheeks. She curled up against my chest, sobbing bitterly. Those kids were our family... they were the only thing we had. Now we had no idea when we'd see them again, if at all.

"I'm so sorry..." Aer moaned, her hands clenched against her side. I shook my head, the pain in my side dulled by the fact Aer was having a breakdown. I rubbed her back slowly, trying to calm her down.

"Sorry..." I sucked in a deep breath, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at me. I looked deep into her eyes, irritated that I was forced to go to these lengths to communicate with someone.

Aer opened her mouth, probably to apologize again, but I stopped her, using my other hand to cover her mouth. I shook my head again, glaring at her. _It's not your fault_, I thought, wishing I was telepathic.

Aer fidgeted under my gaze, lowering her eyes. "I'm sor--, I mean... It's just..." I nodded, understanding what she meant. She took a slow breath, and then shot up. I blinked as she stalked around the room, pacing like a caged tiger.

I watched her worriedly as she stopped in front one of the walls, lashing out viciously. The glass bended with the force of the blow, but didn't break. So much for that.

"What are we going to do?" She moaned, digging her palms into her eyes. I sighed and stood up, walking towards her and pulling her hands away. She was going to make herself blind if she kept it up. She blinked at me owlishly before sighing defeatedly.

"God..." She pulled herself close to me, and I felt utterly self-concious at the fact I stood at least a head taller than her. I felt myself flush awkwardly, but tried to help her out. I always felt so useless when we lived on our own, and this was one of the few situations I had no choice but to try and help her out as best as I could.

"I know what you're thinking," She whispered, still sniffling. I stared at her curiously. She took in a ragged breath and looked up, tears shining on the corners of her eyes. "You're not useless, Cloud. You're my best friend, and the best second-in-command anyone could wish for. Without you, I don't know what I would do."

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks faster and shook my head quickly, trying to deny it. Aer chuckled, wiping her tears away. "It's true. You've helped me so much..."

Our lovely little... chat, so to speak, was cut short when two whitecoats barged into the room, gazing around imperiously.

"You two," One of them said, snapping his fingers. "Come here." We gazed at him blankly.

"Are you serious?" Aer asked incredulously, her spine tensing up immediately. I had to make do with just glaring at them.

The two whitecoats blinked at us. "Come along now," The other said, trying to look intimidating. I sneered at them, silently daring them to get closer. As far as I could tell, there weren't any Eraser-bots with them, but who knew?

The first one grimaced and pulled something out of his pocket. I snapped my wings open, shielding Aer from anything the whitecoats had planned. Aer let out a small shriek as the black... thing in the whitecoat's hand fired something.

I felt my wings crumple slowly behind me; everything started fogging up, time running sluggishly.

Aer screamed again, but it sounded watery and far away. I felt something pull at my wings, but everything felt... detached? Numb, at least.

I felt my mind wander lazily before slowly blacking out. In a way, I kinda welcomed it.

--

I woke up drowsily, completely out of it. I blinked, shaking my head to clear my vision. As the blurriness went away, I focused more on my surroundings. I almost cried as my eyes took in the metal bars surrounding me. _Oh, God, no..._

I sat up, my arms numb. I looked at my arms, feeling sick as I gazed at the IV tubes wrapped around my wrists. I wanted to tear them out, but knowing the whitecoats, they'd have something rigged up to tell them if I did.

I was still wearing my normal clothes, but my t-shirt had been torn up for easy access to whitecoat testing. I was left in a white muscle shirt and my worn jeans and sneakers. _Thank goodness Aer can't see me now... _As soon as that though crossed my mind, I looked up, watching out for Aerith.

Now, my cage was small. A.. medium Kanine Kamper kind of deal. Not nearly big enough for me, never mind two people. I peered through the bars, hoping to see Aer next to me. No such luck.

The room was... well, like a zoo. I wasn't the only experiment in a cage, but I was one of the few not making a racket. I heard monkey hoots, cat meows, dog barks, and other random animal noises, along with screams and cries. Human, of course.

The cage across from me had a curled up figure. I couldn't really see much, but I _think _I saw a flash of feathers. Well, the human-avian hybrids had been one of the more successful experiments; they obviously would have made more than one.

The figure shifted, and I caught a flash of blond hair. My eyes widened as I looked into Max's face. Someone next to me gasped.

"Max?" Aer's voice drifted from my left. I scooted around my cage, hoping to get a better view of my left side. No doubt about it; that ribbon of hers was recognizable everywhere. I banged on my cage, trying to catch her attention. She turned towards me, looking tired and pale.

"Cloud?" She asked quietly, a defeated expression on her face. I nodded, trying to give her a reassuring look.

"Hey, that _is _Max, right?" She questioned, looking at the figure in front of me. I nodded, positive. Aer nodded decisively.

"Max!" The blond person jerked up, looking around suspiciously. Aer glanced at me uncertainly.

"Max? Are you okay?" The girl -- I was _sure_ it was Max -- glared at us.

"What's it to you?"

"Max... it's us..."

"Sorry, but you're mistaking me for someone else." The girl gave us a mistrustful look, but seemed a little mollified by Aer's distressed look.

"If you're not Max, who are you? You look exactly like her." The girl sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"I should. I'm her clone." Well, that was new.

**0000**

**I thought Max II needed some attention... You know, to see what happened between the end of book 2 and the end of book 3. Well, review please!**


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